Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.
– Eckhart Tolle

An online article, “12 Habits of Unhappy People (and How to Avoid Having Them)” recommends avoiding practices that research shows lead to unhappiness. These are the first two:

• Chronic complaining
• Being critical of self and others

Holly Elissa Bruno, (author of Happiness is Running Through the Streets to Find You) writes about the importance of decreasing workplace complaining:

“I believe early childhood professionals not only can, but must change our behavior that negatively affects children. Children cannot be their curious, exuberant, or whimsical selves in an atmosphere laden with adult whining and negativity. Maya Angelou’s advice to adults would be: ‘Change your attitude.’”[Angelou’s full quote is, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.“]

In the book Developing People in Early Childhood Organizations, Pam Schiller makes an important point that leaders must be careful to serve as positive role models by avoiding the traits of unhappy people, explaining that one of the qualities of a successful leader is the ability to act “in many ways like a winning coach” who leads by example. The first step in dealing with difficult people is to be sure we’re not one ourselves, which means minimizing complaining and optimizing ways to celebrate positive actions.